And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.
Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.
I Kings 19:10, 18
Elijah here makes the same mistake that it is easy for us to make every day. Sometimes we start to think that we are the only ones who are standing for Christ. It’s easy to be in the world and go to work and think that there is nobody else doing what they should be doing. Any time we start thinking that we are “we are the only ones”, we start either sinking with despair (which is not good) or we start swelling with pride (which is probably even worse).
The truth is that there are a lot of good people out there. There are a lot of people who have not “bowed unto Baal”. God told Elijah that He still had seven thousand men who had not bowed to Baal. Seven thousand doesn’t sound like a lot, but it is quite a few more than one. And it is true that, in the world, we as Christians are outnumbered. But we aren’t the only ones. It always encourages me when I go on vacation or visit a church in another state or area and find a whole group of people that I may not know by name, but I know in Christ. I can walk into a church hundreds of miles away from my home and be with “my people”. Even in distant lands where I may not speak the language, there are people who are “family”. I have enjoyed “meeting” people through this blog who are wonderful Christians and who love the Lord and they have been a huge encouragement to me. The world may seem overwhelming, but there are still quite a few people out there who are still following Him. That is an encouraging thought, especially when it seems that the whole world around you is against you.
Justified Freely 
Posted by Debbie Feller on June 26, 2010 at 8:11 am
What a beautiful, beautiful post! I love that, about going anywhere, and finding family in Him. 🙂 It’s true! How He blesses us with each other and doesn’t send us out “alone”. Thank you for being a part of that wonderful encouraging family to me! God loves you! deb
Posted by justifiedfreely on June 27, 2010 at 7:04 am
Thank you, Deb. I have really enjoyed reading your blog. And it never ceases to amaze me that there are good Christians just about everywhere.
Posted by Linda Kruschke on June 26, 2010 at 9:44 am
Amen! Peace, Linda
Posted by Moore to ponder on June 27, 2010 at 11:02 am
Ben,
I really appreciate these thoughts. I have on occasion been in churches where too much emphasis was put on “denomination”. I was even a member of one for awhile that had a very elitist mentality. Both My husband and I felt so convicted that we finally had to leave, which was very painful, because they all loved our family very much, and we loved them, too. I remember reading Mark 9:38-40 and thinking it is just wrong to assume that only certain people are “true” followers of Christ.
Posted by justifiedfreely on June 27, 2010 at 5:21 pm
“For he that is not against us is for us.” Luke 9:50, which I think comes from the same story as does Mark 9:38-40. That is a good thing to remember. Thanks for reminding of those passages!